Thompson's PK lifts Aycock past physical Triton

PIKEVILLE -- Triton misfired on its opportunities to end its two-plus seasons of futility against Charles B. Aycock on the soccer pitch.

The Golden Falcons, who lead the all-time series 5-0-1, got lucky, instead.

Senior co-captain Chase Thompson converted a game-winning penalty kick in the first overtime, and Aycock escaped with 4-3 victory at Hardy Talton Stadium on Wednesday evening. It was the Eastern Carolina 3-A Conference opener for both teams.

"We seem to have some interesting games down here ... overtime, (others) come down to the last minutes," said Triton head coach Joey Miriello. "When you get two good teams together who play hard, that's usually what happens."

And what a wild finish it was.

Triton (1-2-0 overall, 0-1-0 ECC) tied the game at 2-2 and took the lead during a six-minute stretch late in the second half. Daniel Goff's unassisted goal in the 67th minute clanged off the post and rolled past the outstretched gloves of Aycock keeper Nick Hilker into the net.

"Most of their shots had been short," said Hilker, who logged five saves.

Aycock (2-0-0, 1-0-0) controlled possession the next few minutes and earned the equalizer late in the 77th minute. Cade Ivey collected a quick deflection from Collin Zacharzuk inside the 6-yard box and tucked it away for the 3-3 tie.

"When the corner came in, it bounced off several players and one of our people tried to take a shot, but I can't remember who it was," said Ivey, a senior co-captain. "It bounced off one of their defenders, it came in front of me and the goalie almost got it. It rolled out of his hands and went in."

But it wasn't over.

The Hawks drew a hard foul inside the 18-yard box and were awarded a PK as precious seconds ticked away in regulation. Goff tapped a slow roller that bounced off the far post and rolled over the end line.

"I was terrified while that was going on," said Ivey of the PK. "Afterwards, I said 'God is on our side and we are getting this.'"

Aycock did.

The line judge called a foul inside the penalty area nearly eight minutes into the first overtime. Each team substituted, Miriello got an unsatisfactory explanation on the foul and Thompson waited patiently to put the ball in play. The whistle blew, he took a well-placed shot and the Golden Falcons protected their one-goal advantage the final 12 minutes of play.

"I don't know if it was actually a penalty kick," said Thompson. "I was nervous as you know what, but I put it away."

Juan Pina's goal off Ronnie Person's throw-in gave the Golden Falcons a 1-0 advantage in the 15th minute. Triton tied the game at 1-1 on Devin McKoy's unassisted goal and a misclear by Hawks' keeper Brendan Turlington (eight saves) put Aycock ahead 2-1 at intermission.

"You could tell we hadn't played in 15 days," said Aycock head coach Kevin Adkins, who lost nine seniors to graduation. "We need to do a lot of work on defense, quite a bit of work on offense. I think, overall, we'll be all right."